In the quest for renewable sources of energy, photovoltaic technology has assumed a preeminent position as a cheap renewable source of clean energy. In particular, solar cells based on the compound semiconductor copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) used as an absorber layer offer great promise for thin-film solar cells having high efficiency and low cost. Of comparable importance to the technology used to fabricate thin-film solar cells themselves, is the technology used to collect current from solar-cell modules and to interconnect one solar-cell module to another to form a solar-cell array.
Solar-cell arrays are impacted by parasitic series resistances, just as solar-cell modules and thin-film solar cells. A significant challenge is the development of solar-cell-module current-collection and interconnection schemes that minimize this effect in solar-cell arrays. Reliability and efficiency of solar-cell modules protected from shading effects is equally important as it determines the useful life and performance of solar-cell arrays.